Mobile communication technology is rapidly advancing the exchange of information between users and systems. The user is no longer tied to a stationary device such as a personal computer in order to communicate with another user, listen to music, or watch a video. Further, portable phones (and other portable devices) can be utilized as full-service computing machines. For example, many of the most recent and advanced mobile phones can be associated with word processing software, accounting software, and various other types of software. Portable wireless devices such as cell phones and PDAs (personal digital assistants), example, employ various power management techniques to extend battery life and support additional computations.
In particular, portable wireless devices, such as cell phones, remain switched on most of the time, such that, they can receive incoming calls at any time and the desire for longer operational time periods between battery recharge cycles has increased. With advances in portable device technology, newer devices are substantially smaller, but still incorporate additional features and functions that consume more battery power. Although new battery technologies, for example lithium-ion batteries, that are being employed improve the battery life, consumer demand for longer life batteries is on the increase.
Conventionally, techniques for extending mobile device battery life include entering a sleep mode if the device is inactive for a predetermined period of time. Most often, conventional systems dim or time-out display screens to save battery power. However, the screen time-out is based on a fixed setting in the device and/or can be driven by an off-or-on setting within a software. A few conventional systems allow a user to enter a user-defined time-out period; however, the user defined screen time-out is constant and cannot be optimized to efficiently conserve battery power. This leads to user frustration since either the user may be using the phone, actively or passively, even after the predefined screen time-out period has elapsed. Further, in multiuser scenarios, wherein multiple users can utilize the device, power management features cannot be customized for each user.